I think this week has been very fitting and great way to start our learning around research methodologies. Thinking about and considering Indigenous ways of knowing has been a part of my work for the past couple of years. While I have learned a lot while working a long side our indigenous team and other colleagues, I am already appreciating learning more from a scholarly standpoint.
When working with Blackfoot elder, Saa’Kokoto, here in Calgary he asked us to reflect through the analogy of a Stick, Rock and a Leaf.
What will stick/has stuck out to you?
What has rocked your world?
What with you leave with?
I will use this way of reflecting as I begin to reflect on my learning
Something that has really stuck out to me already is the importance of the connection to people and place that is placed on Indigenous research methodologies. Something that I am noticing a lot in our schools in Calgary is the importance of place, in learning. This is something that our own community is really focusing on is it has been amazing to see our girls benefit from this. They often make reference to things they have learned about the land and our community in relation to our own family life.
Something that rocked my thinking, as I look ahead to the learning I will do in ETAD800 around indigenous ways of knowing is learning more around the idea of relationality and what this means for classroom teachers as far as truth and reconciliation is concerned. Over the last couple of years I have listened to and read some of Dr. Dwayne Donald’s work around ethical relationality and would like to learn more about this too. I also hear that term come up in Kovach’s work.
As a Kiwi, I feel, and I’m not sure I’m OK to say this, that coming from NZ gives me a slight head start on understanding what truth and reconciliation means for a person from western culture. As a teacher in training we had a fair bit of education around Maori ways of knowing, culture and relations. I felt this preparation in Teachers College prepared me somewhat for the classroom, in which I only taught in for two yers in NZ. All of the work we are doing here in the CBE (and Canada) towards truth and reconciliation reminds me of what New Zealand has been through in the past as a nation.
I am leaving this week feeling optimistic and really looking forward to seeing how learning more about indigenous knowledge/methodology and how it might influence my own work in ETAD as well as professionally, in my work.. As I am focusing this year on developing a research project for ETAD 992, I think this learning will be incredibly timely and will ground me in solid indigenous pedagogy as I head back to work next year.
When working with Blackfoot elder, Saa’Kokoto, here in Calgary he asked us to reflect through the analogy of a Stick, Rock and a Leaf.
What will stick/has stuck out to you?
What has rocked your world?
What with you leave with?
I will use this way of reflecting as I begin to reflect on my learning
Something that has really stuck out to me already is the importance of the connection to people and place that is placed on Indigenous research methodologies. Something that I am noticing a lot in our schools in Calgary is the importance of place, in learning. This is something that our own community is really focusing on is it has been amazing to see our girls benefit from this. They often make reference to things they have learned about the land and our community in relation to our own family life.
Something that rocked my thinking, as I look ahead to the learning I will do in ETAD800 around indigenous ways of knowing is learning more around the idea of relationality and what this means for classroom teachers as far as truth and reconciliation is concerned. Over the last couple of years I have listened to and read some of Dr. Dwayne Donald’s work around ethical relationality and would like to learn more about this too. I also hear that term come up in Kovach’s work.
As a Kiwi, I feel, and I’m not sure I’m OK to say this, that coming from NZ gives me a slight head start on understanding what truth and reconciliation means for a person from western culture. As a teacher in training we had a fair bit of education around Maori ways of knowing, culture and relations. I felt this preparation in Teachers College prepared me somewhat for the classroom, in which I only taught in for two yers in NZ. All of the work we are doing here in the CBE (and Canada) towards truth and reconciliation reminds me of what New Zealand has been through in the past as a nation.
I am leaving this week feeling optimistic and really looking forward to seeing how learning more about indigenous knowledge/methodology and how it might influence my own work in ETAD as well as professionally, in my work.. As I am focusing this year on developing a research project for ETAD 992, I think this learning will be incredibly timely and will ground me in solid indigenous pedagogy as I head back to work next year.
